Sure enough, Venice came out and attempted to pull the bigger, taller Pirates away from the basket in order to create more space and limit the traffic near the hoop.

It worked for a while, but the Pirates’ patience paid off in the end of a 56-39 victory in the Class 7A-District 11 semifinal Wednesday at Tony Cicchella Gymnasium.

The victory earns Port Charlotte (21-5) a home game in Friday’s district final against Charlotte, a 69-61 overtime winner over Braden River, and a berth in next week’s regional tournament.

“They have nothing to lose. They are going to play at the tempo they wanted to play,” Specht said. “We worked on that.”

Dropping 60-27 and 68-27 decisions during the regular season will force a change in tactics.

“I told them it’s not going to be like that,” Specht said. “They have a good coach. They are going to adjust. And they are going to buy in, because they have a lot of seniors on the team.”

“The first couple of times everything was contested at the rim, and we’re not long enough to get those,” Venice coach James Slaton said. “We tried to run everything from the free throw line and up and use back cuts and back screens.

“And it worked.”

Port Charlotte led 6-5 after the first quarter.

“We had them frustrated,” Slaton said. “We were right where we wanted. We just didn’t make enough plays when we got opportunities.”

An Andrew Fusco layup gave the Indians (11-16) an 11-10 lead. Port Charlotte then went on an 11-2 run and closed the first half with a 13-3 spurt to open a 23-14 lead.

“The first half I was most impressed because it was a grind,” Specht said. “They slowly worked the lead out a little bit.

“It helped when we had a nine-point lead. They had to adjust their game plan a little.”

The Pirates also scored the first five points of the second half to put the Indians in a 28-14 hole.

“It’s tough,” Slaton said. “Then you’ve got to speed up both offensively and defensively. We knew we needed to keep it six to eight points. If we could get to the fourth quarter, we felt that pressure would get to them.”

The Pirates quickly opened a double-digit lead and never were threatened.

Sophomore Derrick Farquharson, a 6-foot-4 forward, scored 12 points to tie for team-high scoring honors. Nicksen Blanc, a 6-6 junior forward, tallied all 12 of his points in the second half, 10 in the fourth quarter.

“I challenged Nicksen at halftime,” Specht said. “If you’re not going to get the ball on the post or wing, find another way to score. He did that.”

Fusco came off the bench to lead all scorers with 14 points. Chris Hann chipped in with 13 for the Indians.

“The game plan was perfect,” said Slaton, who graduates seven seniors. “The guys battled. There was no fear in our guys’ eyes. A play here or there, especially in that first half, it would have been a totally different story. We got great looks, layups. Defensively, we did a great job. We gave up a couple of put-backs that hurt us."

Specht looks to tighten the Pirates’ interior defense that sprung some leaks in the second half.

“Once they got down, they started to attack us,” he said of the Indians. “We’ve got to do a better job of defending before Friday night.”

The Pirates defeated Charlotte 59-53 and 51-48 during the regular season. The district champ is home for the opening round of the regionals, while the runner-up hits the road.

Dennis Maffezzoli

Dennis Maffezzoli is the chief reporter for HT Preps. He can be reached by email or call (941) 315-0598.

Last modified: February 7, 2013
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